OCD Treatment – what are my options?

The recommended treatment for OCD is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy – CBT, using Exposure Response Prevention – ERP. This page is to discuss all reputable models of therapy used to treat OCD, in order that you can make an informed decision as to what will work best for you.

If you are interested, feel free to check out my online self help course for OCD, that includes, CBT, Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.

What to look for in Treatment and why you want it

People tend to separate OCD and Intrusive Thoughts (some people call this Pure O) and if you are a person with Intrusive Thoughts, you might be put off, if you meet a psychologist who starts to talk to you about OCD!

You may tell them that you don’t have compulsions, and as such, treatment for OCD is not necessary. You want this, you might not realise this yet, but this is what will help you.

How come?

Even though you might not have what we call overt compulsions – where people can see what you are doing, such as washing, checking or cleaning, I am pretty sure you shall have covert compulsions – these are things that go on for you that others cannot see.

These include, the rumination, the worrying, the nagging doubts and the analysis. If you just had an intrusive thought and did not do any of these things, the chances are you would not have had the thought again, and would just mark it up as a bizarre thought, nor would you have any need to read this page.

I shall give a quick overview of what is open to you, if you want help with OCD. I am going to talk to you about

Before I discuss treatments it is worth noting, that the problem is not with the initial thought or fear that you have in your head, your problem arises from how your interrupt the thought and what you do after having the thought, i.e. your compulsions. You can read more about this in terms of obsessions and compulsions here.

Most people are able to brush off unpleasant thoughts, but the problem arises for you (if you have OCD) when you place too much attention on your thoughts, and see them as actually meaning something or as being fact and this where the focus of treatment should be. Helping you to accept or sit with your thoughts, without having the need to carry out a compulsion. It is for this reason that I also include acceptance and commitment therapy in my course for OCD.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for OCD

This is the traditional treatment for OCD as recommended by NICE guidance and consists of

looking at your thoughts -and the meaning you place on your thoughts. For example you probably take personal responsibility for having the thoughts in the first place, and think that they must mean something about you as a person.

CBT will help you to break this down and help to rational your thoughts.

It also has what is called a behavioural component. Where you are taught how to change your behaviours. In the case of OCD, this would be teaching you to reduce, and to eventually eliminate your compulsions.

For all the years that I have been working with anxiety disorders, I find that people do better if, in addition to CBT, they are also offered Mindfulness, but in a therapeutic way.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy – ACT for OCD

At it’s most basic level Acceptance and Commitment Therapy – ACT teaches you to accept your thought for what it is, (just mental activity in your head) and commit to doing something else ,i.e. not a compulsion.

This is such as important part of recovering from OCD as I have already stated, the compulsions you carry out only help short term, but long term they keep your OCD going.

Exposure Response Prevention (ERP) for OCD

ERP should be carried out as part of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, and sort of like acceptance and commitment therapy, the aim is to expose you to your thought, without

carrying out your compulsion.

I think you should be beginning to see that compulsions are problematic!

Mindfulness

I think most people find this useful. If you google it, you will get phrases like, it is paying attention to the present moment, and most people with OCD may dismiss it’s effectiveness. However, stay with it.

When it is used in a more therapeutic way, by someone who is knowledgable about your brain, it will make sense to you why it helps.

I won’t go into too much detail, but basically, whatever thoughts or images you have that make up your obsessions, if you were able to stop going away from the present moment, you would learn to stop all the worries and anxieties that lead to your compulsions.

This is covered in more depth in my course, which you are very welcome to look at here.

Self Help for OCD

If you would like my help, I have an online course to help you with OCD that contains all my materials and information that you would get if you saw me in person.

Retrain Your Brain® to Overcome OCD

RETRAIN YOUR BRAIN®You don’t need to wait to see me, all my materials are available to use now, in my online self help courseFind out more

Brief Strategic Therapy for OCD

People have asked me about Brief Strategic Therapy for OCD. From what I am aware it is a short term treatment for OCD, as is CBT a short term treatment. I use the NICE guidance (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) as my guide for what works best for OCD, and the NICE Guidance is recommending Cognitive Behavioural Therapy with Exposure Response Prevention which are discussed above.

You can read above how CBT help with OCD above.

Things that will not help

If you want help with OCD, just talking about your feelings, is not something that I would recommend. You need a structured approach that explains what is going on for you, and more importantly, tells you what you need to do to feel better.

How many sessions will I need?

I won’t lie to you, therapy is expensive! That’s why I have created all my online courses. The following is an average number of sessions based on the model.

CBT – anywhere between 16-24 sessionsERP, this is to be carried out as part of CBT, so the same number applies as CBT

If you would like my help, using self help treatment at home

Retrain Your Brain® to Overcome OCD

RETRAIN YOUR BRAIN®You don’t need to wait to see me, all my materials are available to use now, in my online self help courseFind out more